AlphaTrack lives on in El Cap!!

[James Steele]

Just an update. I did a clean install of El Cap (10.11.1) on a test partition and after much hair pulling, it seems I figured out a process to get AlphaTrack working—at least as you can see from the graphic below, it is now recognized. The installer doesn't work, it involves manually copying components to the proper location, as well as a special way to install the FrontierDesignAlphaTrack.kext file.

I did disable SIP prior to working out this procedure. I'm not sure it is necessary. I'm going to try to repeat this with SIP enabled. If that doesn't work, with any luck SIP can be re-enabled AFTER successful install. I hope to follow up with specific instructions soon.

EDIT: I should hasten to add that I have not yet confirmed that it will work with DP 9.01 and the 64-bit control surface bundle, but I'm very optimistic.

[James Steele]

Just an update, I turned off SIP, then re-booted from my test El Cap partition where AlphaTrack had previously worked and the driver does not load. So it appears that in order to use AlphaTrack in El Cap, it will be required to turn off SIP. I recall seeing something on the net about perhaps being able to do this piecemeal per extension (?), but not sure. That would be preferable to the brute force method of disabling it.

Of course, this means that in my previous flirtation with El Cap, had I just gone ahead and disabled SIP, it may have just come up just fine on the next boot.

[James Steele]

Okay... all seems to be fine now with DP 9.01 and AlphaTrack on El Cap 10.11.1. You do have to disable SIP for it to work. I installed El Cap onto my main Yosemite boot drive and it booted El Cap and the AlphaTrack icon appeared in the menu bar and it works, although after launching DP I had to disconnect and reconnect the AlphaTrack.

In my case all the AlphaTrack software had already been installed under a previous operating system and disabling SIP brought the existing AlphaTrack software back to life on the next boot. However, if you do a clean install, you will have to manually copy over the various components to your El Cap boot drive as the AlphaTrack installer will fail to install.

Here's what I did to get the AlphaTrack working on a clean install of El Cap just for reference:

Disable SIP by shutting down your Mac, then turning it back on and then immediately holding down Command + R to boot from the Restore volume. When booted, go the the Utilities menu up at the top and choose Terminal. Type in the following:

csrutil disable; reboot

Your Mac will reboot itself and SIP will be off.

Download the following archive: http://motunation.com/files/AlphaTrack_ ... lation.zip

This archive when expanded should be self explanatory. It has all the necessary files for AlphaTrack and shows where to copy them. It also contains what you'll need including an app called Kext Utility. (See: http://mac.softpedia.com/get/System-Uti ... lity.shtml for info)

You can't just copy the actual .kext file. Use the Kext Utility app to install the kext file so that the system will load it properly. Launch Kext Utility and drag the file, FrontierDesignAlphaTrack.kext onto its window and it will install. Wait till it is finished and then quit the app. On reboot, the AlphaTrack should work.

Keep in mind, this is dependent on also having the special 64-bit compatible control surface bundle for DP. The file is AlphaTrackDPUB.bundle and must be in Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/MOTU Control Surface/. If you do not already have this newer file you can get it here: http://www.synclavier.com/AlphaTrackPlugin.html You also have to add the control surface in DP under the Setup>Control Surface Setup... menu.

Please note! This worked for me, it should work for you. However, given the litigious nature of society these days, I must warn you to backup first and I can take no responsibility if it doesn't work right for you, etc. If you have problems post here, but again, you do this at your own risk.

[rpmusic]

Hey James,

I just wanted to personally thank you, thank you, THANK YOU for doing this. I haven't migrated to El Cap yet, but when I do, I'll be following your instructs.

Again, thank you!
Rob

[James Steele]

No problem. I've become very reliant on the AlphaTrack. If you upgrade an existing Yosemite drive to El Cap, the only thing you'll need to do is disable SIP and the AlphaTrack *should* work on next boot.

[rpmusic]

No problem. I've become very reliant on the AlphaTrack. If you upgrade an existing Yosemite drive to El Cap, the only thing you'll need to do is disable SIP and the AlphaTrack *should* work on next boot.

Hey James,

I feel rather silly asking this, but what is SIP? I'm sure the minute I see your reply I'll do a face palm and a Homer Simpson "DOH!"

Thanks!
r

[James Steele]

It's a new security feature in El Cap that might prevent older drivers from loading during booting if not disabled. Trying googling for more info.

[rpmusic]

It's a new security feature in El Cap that might prevent older drivers from loading during booting if not disabled. Trying googling for more info.

Perfect - Thx, James

[Grigri]

Thanks you James, my alphatrack is working again.

All the best

David

[Rick Cornish]

Hey James....
I just got an AlphaTrack today via eBay. Good price, but it arrived with gooey stuff all over it. Hope it actually works!

I purchased the updated driver from the Synclavier site. I'm running DP9.01 under Yosemite. Do I need to follow the instructions you gave above for El Cap, or can I just run the installer?

Thanks in advance for your help.

[James Steele]

Hey James....
I just got an AlphaTrack today via eBay. Good price, but it arrived with gooey stuff all over it. Hope it actually works!

I purchased the updated driver from the Synclavier site. I'm running DP9.01 under Yosemite. Do I need to follow the instructions you gave above for El Cap, or can I just run the installer?

Thanks in advance for your help.

I'm sorry I missed this. You probably sorted it out alright. If you're running Yosemite, I believe you can just run the AlphaTrack installer as usual. On El Cap, the old Frontier installer won't run, requiring manually copying components over and then using that utility I included in the archive for installing the .kext file.

The file from the Synclavier site isn't really a "driver" per se, but a DP specific "control surface bundle" that is required to run AlphaTrack in DP in 64-bit mode.

[Rick Cornish]

Thanks again, James. I did get it running with your instructions. It's been working great.

Many thanks for providing all this info!

[madtheory]

Thanks for making this happen James. I'm running Pro Tools and El Cap update broke the Alphatrack driver. Complete manual deletion of the previous install and following your instructions worked, except that first I had to right click and open "AlphaTrack Launcher" "AlphaTrack Manager" and "AlphaTrack Menu" (in that order) to get it to work OK. Each time I did the right click I got a dialogue box telling me that giving the app permission to launch would become permanent. So I think SIP is definitely an issue here. Just to note that kext utility has recently been updated to 2.6.6.

Thanks again!

PS @Rick I think the goo might be the lubricant from the fader? Get some in there fast. Servisol spray (to clean it) followed by a tiny (and I mean tiny) drop of paraffin oil will do.

[James Steele]

Hmmm. I may need to revisit this and also perhaps just include a link to the kext utility rather than include in the archive. Can't remember why I chose to do it that way. I didn't have to launch any of those apps, but I had disabled SIP prior. Pretty sure you must do that for it to work.

[madtheory]

Hmmm. I may need to revisit this and also perhaps just include a link to the kext utility rather than include in the archive. Can't remember why I chose to do it that way. I didn't have to launch any of those apps, but I had disabled SIP prior. Pretty sure you must do that for it to work.

Yes I'm wondering about that too. I did follow your instructions exactly. Mine's a late 2009 iMac 27". I had two issues around SIP:
1. Could not boot into Recovery mode by Restarting and pressing CMD+R, had to Shut Down then Boot Up and press CMD+R then.
2. Typed into Terminal csrutil disable; reboot. The Mac did reboot, so I can only assume SIP was disabled as well?